AP – President Barack Obama will return to White House in Washington after his European trip, with tulips …
The White House is allocating tickets for the upcoming Easter Egg Roll to gay and lesbian families as part of the Obama administration's outreach to diverse communities.

Families say the gesture shows that the new Democratic administration values them as equal to other families. And for many, being included in the annual tradition — dating to 1878 — renews hope that they will have more support in their quest for equal rights in matters such as marriage and adoption than under the previous administration.

On Tuesday, gays and lesbians gained another victory when Vermont joined Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa in giving gay couples the right to marry. In the District of Columbia, the council voted to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.

White House officials said that tickets for Monday's Easter Egg Roll event were distributed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations, but did not specify how many or to which ones. Representatives from Family Equality Council, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and other groups confirmed they were invited and encouraged to have their members participate.

"The Obama administration actually reached out to us as an organization, and said we want gay families there, and they are an important part of the American family fabric," said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Boston-based Family Equality Council, which is helping spearhead the effort to organize families to attend.

Chrisler said Tuesday she expects more than 100 gay and lesbian-headed families to take part in the egg roll.

Overall, officials are gearing up for a bigger turnout than ever before, with families arriving from 45 states and the District of Columbia, said Semonti Mustaphi, deputy press secretary to Mrs. Obama. The majority of egg roll tickets were offered to the public online.

Alan Bernstein, a single gay father, is flying to Washington from West Hollywood, Calif., with his 5-year-old son Issac to participate. His 3-year-old twin daughters will stay with their grandparents. It will be Bernstein and his son's first time at the egg roll.

"I don't think to a 5-year-old it's that extraordinary, but to me it is," said the 43-year-old planning commissioner, calling the invitation an honor.

It's not the first time gay and lesbian-headed families will participate.

In 2006 during the Bush administration, more than 100 gay families attended the egg roll in part to make the statement that they should be welcome. Some conservatives accused gays and lesbians of trying to "crash" the event and turn it into forum for ideological politicking.

This year already feels different, said Colleen Gillespie of Brooklyn, who helped spark the 2006 effort.

"We feel so welcomed and embraced, and that in a very real way, I think we can just go as a family and enjoy it," said the 42-year-old assistant professor at New York University's school of medicine, who is attending with her wife and their daughters, Ella and Zelda. "We don't have to fight for our right to exist and be treated fairly."

Leah McElrath Renna, managing partner at a D.C. communications firm, agreed. She attended the event in 2006 and 2007 with her partner Cathy McElrath Renna and their now 3-year-old daughter, Rosemary.

"Under Bush, it felt a bit like we were crashing our own party. But this year it feels like we're equally honored guests," Leah McElrath Renna, 44, said. "It's more celebratory."

Rosemary is particularly excited to see the Easter Bunny again and already has planned her outfit: A yellow polka-dotted dress and a new straw hat with a pink band.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the joy on my daughter's face when she sees the Easter Bunny," she said. "And seeing the White House in the background

Yes, extreme Christians only blow up abortion clinics and the Oklahoma City Federal Building, and only hung African Americans from Trees for a hundred years, (KKK and others). There are extremists of all faiths who do terrible things. We need to be careful not to condemn every member of a certain faith just because of some extremest nut jobs. In every group, there are some crazies. I would venture to say that I know a few gun freedom advocates that scare me as much as radical Muslims. Future mass murderers of America definitely a possibility. The kind of guys who demonstrate their shotgun by taking out the aquarium and the wall behind it in their living room, or who enjoy a Saturday afternoon lobbing live grenades in the woods. No shit, I really knew such a dude.

for anyone with a brain. There are those who need to be told how to live, so religion has a purpose out there. I agree with Gunnin. How many people have been slaughtered in the name of religion, how many families torn apart by what some "holy" man says? While a personal relationship with God is a good thing to have, religion made by man is crap.

"I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. The calling of arms, I have followed from boyhood. I have never sought another." From The Virtues of War, by Steven Pressfield.